Visit to India - January 2006

 

 

I arrived in Hyderabad on Friday December 29 th and meetings began almost immediately with a City wide Celebration on Saturday 31 st , New Year’s Eve. Franz Lippi arrived in Hyderabad the same day from Graz, Austria and Steve Elliott from San Antonio, TX ( USA) joined us later.

 

What I had not realized until I arrived was that this visit coincided with the 25 th Anniversary of when Mohan’s father, John Babu and I had first formed Sion Fellowship and we began to work together. Mohan had decided to celebrate this occasion.

 

It was a joyful time and healings began to flow from that first meeting. On Sunday January 1 st we drove the four hour journey to Armoor for a special New Year’s Day celebration. This was where the work first began. A very enthusiastic crowd of many thousands were waiting for us. They catered a massive celebration lunch and fed over six thousand in their own amazing way. Again there was a flow of healing miracles and testimonies of great miracles in the past.

 

One thing that struck me so forcibly, looking at this great crowd, was how things had improved from those very miserable beginnings. In those early days the people would come to the meetings smelling badly, in very poor clothes, many in little better than rags. They were under nourished, sick and oppressed by the devil with very little joy. As I looked round this great gathering they were so joyful and healthy. The men were clothed with immaculate shirts and pants and the women with the most beautiful saris and exotic perfumes wafted in the breeze. God had obviously changed their economy significantly for the better. They were overwhelmingly joyful in extravagant praise and worship.

 

What stood out most to me were the teenagers and young twenties. They were a new generation that had only known Jesus from their earliest days. There were hundreds of them shining with the joy of Jesus. They were so pure and holy with no marks of sin on their faces. Their radiant personalities shone forth without any false shyness or fear.

 

The little children also were such a delight, enjoying every minute worshiping the Lord with all their might.We returned to Hyderabad late that night thankful that Monday was a day of rest!

 

During Monday about 600 leaders of the Sion Fellowship Churches plus a few friends traveled to the main center of Sion Fellowship in Hydernagar a suburb of Hyderabad. On Tuesday morning we began a three day Conference for Leaders. The theme chosen was “Finishing the Race”. I did three Sessions a day and Franz did a series on spiritual warfare in the afternoon.

 

Again it was very powerful and we were encouraged with good reports of growth and increase from many places with a steady flow of supernatural signs confirming the Word everywhere. The work had expanded into a number of new places and many more churches have been established. As a result there are about twenty places where new church buildings are needed urgently which will cost about $5,000 each to build.

 

 

Many of the people tithe literally and bring a tenth of the rice harvest and other farm produce to the meetings to thank God for His faithfulness. As a result of their faithful giving their economy has improved significantly and they have become relatively prosperous. They give enough to support the work and their own full time ministries, but the capital cost of a new building is a daunting obstacle for them.

 

Steve Elliott made quick visit to Chennai (formerly Madras) where he met Duncan Watkinson. They had a profitable time going into the practicalities of launching some Micro loan schemes to help the poor and needy who are always with us in India. Steve got back just in time for the final meetings in Hyderabad. We concluded with a glorious 25 th anniversary celebration where I was almost buried in garlands from so many loving saints. It was a very moving experience. You can see some of the great pictures on our web site.

 

We then all traveled to Bangalore together and met up with Duncan Watkinson who had arranged a packed schedule of public meetings with many City leaders and private meetings with various leaders from around the nation. There was a new spirit of powerful victorious prayer everywhere with important breakthroughs being reported in evangelism with great numbers turning to the Lord in the formerly barren Northern provinces.

 

Also, there were some significant shifts being reported in the political arena which will prove very helpful in bringing greater liberty for preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom without hindrance. There have been some tragic incidents of intimidation, violence and even murder of some Christian workers and small groups of believers by fanatical Hindu and Buddhist groups. This however will not stop these brave and passionate believers from continuing to boldly witness for Jesus. Please keep all these things in your prayers.

 

We finally returned to Mumbai to begin our journey home. I had been preaching up to four times a day for weeks and also been in dozens of consultations with key leaders where I needed to be alert and wise in what I said, but God gave great grace to do all this and we all stayed in perfect health all the time. Weary but blessed, we checked in for our first international fight from Mumbai to London and found we had been given a complementary upgrade to business class, which meant we had a bed to stretch out on and really get some sleep. God is so good.

 

Thank you for your love, prayers and support,

 

Alan